Uhde Wins Major Polymer Contract in Qatar

Uhde has been awarded a lump-sum turnkey contract by Qatar Petrochemical Co. (QAPCO), a subsidiary of Industries Qatar and Total Petrochemicals of France, to build a 300,000 tonne-per-year low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant within the scope of its LDPE-3 project. The plant will be based on the Lupotech T technology licensed by LyondellBasell.

Having already executed the basic engineering for this LDPE project, Uhde's scope of services and supplies will now include the project management, detail engineering and supply of equipment and materials, as well as the construction work. The latter will be executed in close cooperation with Tekfen Construction and Installation Co. of Istanbul, Turkey. The contract is worth some US $550 million to Uhde.

The new plant will produce LDPE pellets for a wide range of applications. It will be integrated into the polyethylene production area inside QAPCO’s petrochemical complex in Mesaieed, further consolidating QAPCO’s position as one of the world’s leading low-density polyethylene producers. “Launching the LDPE-3 new plant today is, no doubt, a value-added expansion project which marks another milestone in QAPCO’s history of achievements,” declared HE Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry. The plant is planned to be completed in December 2011.

This large-scale, low-density polyethylene contract provides further proof that Uhde is one of the world’s leading EPC contractors in the field of polymers and is the latest of many successes in Qatar. "This challenging task not only requires a thorough knowledge of the high-pressure technology to be applied, but also a wealth of experience in integrating a new plant into an existing complex during on-going production," said Mr. Klaus Schneiders, Chairman of Uhde's Executive Board, during the contract signing ceremony in Doha, Qatar, on May 31, 2009. It enables Uhde to demonstrate yet again that we are an attractive and competitive partner for such projects.